KIGALI - The Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation Bert Koenders, Saturday made a brief stopover in Kigali, to discuss bilateral relations between his country and Rwanda.

Koenders had a brief meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister Rosemary Museminari and the Finance Minister James Musoni, at Kigali International Airport to discuss development areas the Dutch will continue supporting in Rwanda to foster economic progress.

Speaking to the press after meeting the two government officials, the Dutch Minister said that bilateral relations between Rwanda and the Netherlands have been strong and that the two countries have been partnering in different areas, despite the December 2008 decision to scrap budget support the Netherlands was aiding Rwanda with.           

"Partnership between Netherlands and Rwanda goes beyond the budget support. I want to assure you that the two countries still work together in different sectors of development and justice,” said Koenders.

The controversial withdrawal of the Dutch budget support was announced after a UN report accused Rwanda of supporting a rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The report has since been dismissed by the Rwandan government as baseless.

The Dutch minister who was accompanied by the Dutch Ambassador to Rwanda Frans Makken, said that the Netherlands still cooperates with Rwanda despite the strain caused by the budget support suspension, citing the decision by a Dutch court to slam a 20 year sentence on Joseph Mpambara, a top Genocide suspect, as an example.
Rwanda welcomed the March 23 ruling.

"Its important to note that budget support takes a small proportion of the bilateral relations between the two countries, but I must also tell you that we are also discussing the issue of budget support,” Koenders added, tactically not revealing whether the support worth about 3m Euros will be restored.

He however added that the Netherlands will continue supporting development and education programmes in Rwanda in grants disbursed through the Ministry of Finance.

Minister Museminari also confirmed to the press that the discussions the three officials had were centred on continued partnerships between the two countries while the issue of budget support is being discussed further.

Among other things, the Netherlands contributes 23 million Euros of direct Dutch aid annually which is injected in the fields of education, agriculture and justice in Rwanda.

Last month, Ambassador Makken had talks with Rwanda’s defence officials on how the military institutions of the two countries would collaborate in training and enhancing professionalism.

Koenders also visited Burundi and the DRC, especially the Eastern part of the country that has been muddled in conflict.
Koenders also commended the Rwanda and DRC for working to quell the conflict in Eastern DRC.

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